Continuation
by tomokosck
Summary: Following the defeat of Lord Voldemort, Harry is left to lead to life of a hero who has saved the entire wizarding community. His life is now comprised of interviews and photo shoots, neither of which are awfully exciting. As the British wizards and witches try to rebuild their lives, Harry now has to find direction in his new life. Not everyone stayed the same after the war though
1. Chapter 1

"...And thank you Mr. Harry Potter for speaking with us tonight! Always wonderful to hear from the boy who saved us alll hahah!"

"No, thank you Gervis, it was my pleasure," Harry's voice crackled over the broadcast, a little hoarse from the long interview he'd just done.

"Yes, hopefully we'll see you again soon, and in good health! Ahaha, and that's the show for tonight listeners, tune in again tomorrow night for an in depth analysis of Minister Bones' new economic reforms and what they mean for you. This is Gervis Tudeor wishing you a good night!"

The soft jazzy music of late night radio followed the end of another long interview for Harry. This time, it had been for Channel Six's Late Nights with Gervis Tudeor. The two hour long dialogue had consisted of Harry telling the exact same stories he had been telling for the past 3 months, but slightly rephrased, for a seemingly new perspective on his defeat of Voldemort. Gervis was a good radio host and had done a great job of keeping the energy up, but frankly, there was nothing to be added to the story. Everybody knew exactly what happened, how Harry did it, who had been involved, where everything had gone down, and who had died for the cause. That last one was still quite sore for Harry, and most presenters had learnt at this point to avoid picking too much at the topic.

Either way, that was the last radio interview for a while now. He had another photo shoot for the Quibbler tomorrow for some article about Stubby Boardman and the work he was currently doing for the elves in Barcelona at the moment (because obviously, that's what Stubby Boardman was doing during his absence from the British Wizarding community). That, he was looking forward to a little. Luna was going to be there, and she was always good to talk with.

Luna and Harry had become quite close after Voldemort's defeat. Not in a romantic or sexual way, but similar to Harry's relationship with Hermione. Luna was understanding, in her own weird way, and never thought to judge him for how he was. To him, she brought him the same comfort that you would feel on a rainy day when you forgot your umbrella, but got home to find the heating was on and the house was warm. The kind of comfort that woollen socks and hot tea brought in the dead of winter. That wholesome hugs and sweet caramel sweets brought when you'd been feeling down and lonely. Luna was special. Not everyone understood their relationship. Many thought they were sleeping together. This was probably because Luna was a very hands on person, in that she would great him with a hug instead of words, and would often lean on him in the middle of a street, causing both of them to walk into someone else. That was just how they were together. Ginny certainly didn't understand their relationship. She seemed to be in a constant bad mood every time Harry hung out with Luna, which honestly, wasn't that often anyways.

"I really think, Harry, that only your girlfriend should be allowed to hang off of you in public like that! It just looks bad, y'know? Like you don't respect me! What am I supposed to tell everyone else? That my boyfriend doesn't even respect me? Cause that's what it looks like!"

To this, Harry would usually respond that Luna didn't hang off of him, but leaned on him instead, to which Ginny would react negatively to, and Hermione would later smack him for. But honestly, it was leaning. Not hanging. There is a difference.

Anyways, that photoshoot was tomorrow. The edition with his face plastered all over it would be published at the start of next month, which would boost the sales for a little while. In the mean time, all Harry had to do was say goodbye to everyone in the studio and head home.

* * *

Apparating home to his apartment, there was a small pile of letters on his doormat, left by impatient owls who wanted to go home early rather than deliver to him in person. There was also a single owl sleeping softly on the perch he had had installed, with a letter loosely clutched in its beak. This one, he took immediately, relieving the owl of its duty. After a moment, the owl flew off, and Harry gathered the rest of the letters on the floor. Most of them looked to be fan mail. The thicker ones tended to be from his persistent admirers, who were determined to thank him as frequently as possible for the service he had provided to the wizarding world. There were also those who seemed determined to tell him in explicit detail how good he looked in his last magazine photo shoot. Which was a month ago. Those got used as kindling for the fireplace. After sorting out the fan mail, there were two letters left. One, from the Quibbler's photographer, telling him what time to be at the photoshoot location. The next one, was from Ginny. It was a white piece of card with a lipstick mark on it.

 _Well that was a waste of parchment..._ Harry thought, turning it over and checking the back for any message. There was none. _She could have just kissed me when we saw each other this morning. Perhaps she's feeling lonely. I'll send some flowers or something. Tomorrow perhaps._

Putting those two letters aside, Harry took off his shoes and changed into his thickest pyjama set, which had little green and gold snitches floating around the cuffs. In addition to this, he changed into a pair of woolly socks that he had charmed to be warm always. Luna's idea.

 _Ahh... I really underestimated Dumbledore's genius when he said he wanted socks for presents rather than books. The man knew what he was talking about._

Grabbing a cup of tea from the kitchen, he wondered over to the single massive armchair in his living room and tiredly fell into it,making sure not to spill his tea. Breathing a deep sigh, he let his body be absorbed by the softness of the chair.

 _What a long night. Thankfully no more radio talks for a month at least. After tomorrows photo shoot, I'll have a little time to finally just catch up with everyone. I haven't been able to properly see Ron or Hermione for ages... Hopefully they understand. Hermione didn't sound to mad in her letters, she seemed more focused on her study project. What else would I expect from her, heh... Ron though. Maybe when I send Ginny flowers tomorrow, which I'll have to remember to do, I'll send him something too. A voucher for George's shop would probably fix him up. Or perhaps that keeper's jersey he mentioned a couple times in his last letter. Hm... I reckon Ron was trying to be subtle about that one... Classic Ron. I'll have to owl in and see if they do mail service. Quiditch stores often don't. I wonder if anywhere else sells that jersey?_

Late at night was the only time Harry was able to just think about things and collect his thoughts. During the day, his schedule was still full to the point where he couldn't rest, and at night he was either doing business related things, or having dinners with important figures in the community. He'd managed to gain at least 2 kilos from the amount of meals he'd been having out. That wasn't really a bad thing, though, considering how thin he was to start off with. It was still strange to have something to grab at on his stomach though.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts about Ron's proposed gift, Harry yawned, then finished off his now lukewarm tea. The tea had settled in his stomach, warming his insides and making his eyelids droop.

 _Time to go to bed then_. _Gotta have a fresh face for tomorrow._

And off he went to bed, his bones weary but a soft satisfied smile on his face. Tea and woolly socks really did wonders for a tired soul.

* * *

Harry's eyes were watering and a little dry from the flashing of the camera in his face. His skin felt heavy from the thick foundation charm on his face, and his hair felt gluey and gross from the product that had been applied to calm it. The photographer shouted directions at him from behind the lens, telling him to look both more relaxed and alert at the same time. That he had to stick his hands in his pockets, but also brush the base of his jaw with his fingers. That he had to charm the camera with his _'beautiful smile'_ while giving his sexiest bedroom eyes to the camera. On the side, Luna was giving him the strangest grin. She was probably finding this hilarious, Harry thought as he tried to cooperate with the wishes of the lady yelling at him.

 _There's only so much I can do with my body before it becomes some obscure type of witchcraft... This is crazy._

"Aaand that should be good Harry, thanks, you were great!" The camera lady shouted, stopping her camera waving to shake his hand brusquely and walk away to discuss her photos with the rest of the crew.

 _Great? That wasn't really the impression I was getting from the camera... Oh well, that's done._

"Harry, that was really interesting. The whole time you looked like you'd had a doxxy inserted up your ass and it was struggling to escape. Like, fighting for it's life."

"Thanks Luna, I'll try to work on my expression then, yeah?"

"Oh no, I thought this was your best photo shoot with us yet. Keep the doxxy look. The doxxy look works for you."

"Yeah, you thought so?"

"Yeah, it made you look really determined. You just shouldn't tell anyone else what you were determined to do, even though we both know it was to do with your nether regions. It would take away from the significance of the article if everyone heard that."

"Oh yeah, for sure. I'll keep my mouth shut. Let Stubby's story shine this time round."

Luna was a gem. Honestly.

"Oh yeah, Harry, did you want to come exploring with me after the shoot today? There's a new section of London I've found that I think may have some significance to my father's sickness. I want to banish any evil creatures from the area and see if that helps."

 _It won't. But I'll pretend it will._

"Yeah, that sounds great Luna, let me just get changed first, okay?"

"Sweet, I'll see you in a sec!"

As she turned and skipped off to who knows where, her dirty blond hair caught the shine of the studio lights and filled Harry's vision momentarily. It was like being attacked by an ocean of blonde. Her hair smelt like cherries.

 _How strange. Luna smells like pears, but her hair smells of cherries_.

Another strange observation to add to his list of Luna-associated mysteries.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later and Harry was being pushing into people around them by Luna's face leaning on his shoulder. His brown jacket had the sleeves pushed up because it was slightly warmer in the busy street than it had been in the studio, even under the heavy lights. Everyone around him was wearing much lighter jackets than he and Luna were.

"Luna, we're not even in London. I don't even think we're in the UK, that person was speaking German."

"Were they? Or did your brain just listen in German?"

"No, my brain is listening to you in English, so I don't think its just me. Everyone else is also speaking German, I was just using that person as a passing specific example."

"Oh. Maybe we're in the German part of London then."

"Was that where you wanted to go though? I thought you had a specific place in mind."

"I do have a specific place in mind. It was probably not the German part of London, I'll give you that."

"So we're in the wrong place, yeah?"

"Yeah, I'd say so."

* * *

Two minutes later, and they were on a significantly less crowded street. It seemed like more of a side street than their previous location, which had looked like a main street somewhere. As they stood slightly to the side of the street, trying to work out where they were, a lady with six dogs on leashes walked past. The dogs were all panting from the excitement of being on a walk, and from the mixed jackets that they were all wearing. The heavy pants came out in clouds of smelly dog breath. Two of the dogs steered from the path of the lady and veered in Harry's direction, desperate to say hello.

Squatting down to pet the dogs, who ferociously greeted him with licks and stinky dog breath, Harry smiled at the energy in the small animals.

 _How can you be so excited about everyone? Would dogs be as excited to say hello to a stranger on the street if he were a mass murderer? Surely somewhere in the evolution of domesticated dogs, some degree of suspicion was added to the mix.  
_ _Perhaps they can pick up someone's character through their scent. Would a mass murderer smell different to a regular person? Would you be able to smell the death on them? I wonder what Voldemort smelled like towards the end... Death and cold things probably._

Luna was talking to the dog walking lady.

"Oh yeah, I've got so many dogs. Seven probably. I couldn't give you an exact number though you see, because I'm actually completely blind, so I have to just guess how many I've got. You can try and touch them and tell them apart like that, but they all feel pretty similar to me. That's because I've got no feeling from my elbows down on both arms. After the accident, everything went a little numb. Kinda like if you had gloves full of ice cubes and wore them all the time. I wouldn't remember what that feels like though. Because I can't feel anything in my arms. My doctor says that this is normal for someone of my temperament. I have no idea what he means. I just pay him and leave. That's him over there, talking to your other dogs. He's also completely blind. We make quite the pair, don't you think?"

"O-oh, uh, I guess so, yeah... Uh, what did you say your name was again?" The lady stuttered, trying to control the rest of her dogs, who were busy tangling the leashes together.

"Cornelius Fudge. I run a major fashion label, I doubt you've heard of it. It's extremely successful and I'm very rich."

"Oh thats good, I suppose..."

"It really is."

"...uh-"

"Wilbur, it's time to go!" Luna cried, nudging Harry's squatting figure with her heel.

Jumping up, Harry collected himself, brushing off his pants from any stray dog hairs.

"Yep, lunch time it is! Some fresh lunch will do us just right!" Harry declared, trying to continue with whatever story Luna had created.

"Right you are Wilbur, time to fill these empty bellies with some fresh fresh food. I will see you another time Anita-"

"-Samantha," the lady corrected

"-and hopefully you won't be tied to so many dogs next time. Good luck on your adventures!" With that, Luna grabbed Harry's hand and frog marched them off down the street, continuing until they were out of sight of the lady.

"She seemed like a nice lady. Pity about being tied to all those dogs though," Luna mused, letting go of Harry's arm to ruffle her hair into an even messier state of chaos.

"Oh, the dogs were great too. Excellent lickers. Loads of enthusiasm, and you've gotta give them some points for that I think."

"That's a very fair point Harry, you always have to take into account the enthusiasm of the licking."

"Indeed."

/~~/

I have no plans for this story at this point, it is completely ramblings. There is no direct, but hopefully it's not _unpleasant_ to read. Disclaimer, I dont own the characters or world.

I'm currently on holidays, and very sleep deprived, so there will probably be errors in the spelling, but lots of uploads.


	2. Chapter 2

A.N/ Lets say this is a month or two after chapter 1. Harry has had a little time to stew.

* * *

 _I wonder, if I put the sugar in the tea cup before the actual tea, will there be a difference in flavour? Or does doing it this way simply limit the control I have over how sweet my tea is? How crucial is the order of tea making to the final product? Hermione would know... Does this merit me sending her a letter asking?_

 _..._

 _Yes._

Rising from his thinking chair, which was his most comfortable chair coincidentally (and also the only chair he sat in for any purpose), Harry fetched a writing pad and a ballpoint pen. Screw quills and parchment, muggle equipment was far cheaper and required much less effort to obtain. Also, Harry felt much more comfortable chewing the end of a ballpoint compared to trying to get his mouth around the end of a quill. Quill nibbling led to soggy quill tips which was disgusting and distracting when trying to write letters.

Right. The letter.

 _-Dear Hermione,_

 _How is your project on the psychology of house elves going? Have you found any willing participants yet? I know in your last letter you were expressing some difficulty in finding a house elf willing to take part in your investigation. If you'd like, I could speak to some people and see if they would be willing to lend their house elves to a good cause, on a temporary basis. The only issue with this is that the house elves may have to be ordered to take part in the investigation, and this may impede on the accuracy and truthfulness of the results. Let me know if you'd be interested in that though, I'm happy to help._

 _Also, how have you and Ron been going? You two have been going well from what I've heard from a little birdie hehe... You know, I hear that red heads are more passionate in bed, perhaps you could conduct an investigation into that._

 _No, but really, how is everyone going? I saw Ginny last week and she said her bunch were going well. As well as they could be, considering Fred... Ginny said that Molly was still quiet, but that she had started to relent with her fussing a little. Which is good for us I suppose, as this means us two can meet up more often. Ehh._

 _I have a question for you though. I admit, this was the main reason for my writing you. Keep in mind this is a hypothetical situation as of yet._

 _If someone was to put the sugar in the tea cup before putting the actual tea and hot water in, would the final tea product be any different to tea made in the normal order? The normal order being; tea bag, hot water, milk, sugar. My current thoughts are that it would only limit the control that the person has over the sweetness of the tea. I haven't confirmed my hypothesis yet though, and before I do, what do you think?_

 _Please write back soon, I eagerly await your owl,_

 _Harry-_

After the war was over, Harry had gotten a new owl. It was a little brown thing. The same brown as a paper lunch bag that had water soaked into it from badly packed cucumber sandwiches. What an unpleasant comparison. The owl had an unnerving habit of following his movements with its whole body every time he entered a room. If you'd never had an owl before, this behaviour might not sound too strange, but having something so little stare at you with such fierce determination, and to have no idea what it could possibly be thinking is incredibly uncomfortable at times.

He had named the owl Draco, because of it's apparent obsession with him.

Draco was in no way a replacement of Hedwig, and Harry found it painful to even compare the two in his head. The owl was merely a creature of necessity. He needed to owl people about important things. Such as tea.

* * *

As soon as Harry had sent off Draco with his letter for Hermione, he saw approaching his doorway another owl, clutching a letter in its beak. Stepping back to allow for the owl's landing, Harry tried to gauge what kind of letter it was. Once the bird landed on the perch, it presented to him a letter bearing the seal of the Malfoy family.

 _How ironic that I just sent Draco off, it could have been a family reunion._

Somehow, despite all their misdeeds during the war, the Malfoy family managed to get off reasonably scott free. Many other death eaters and followers of Voldemort found themselves either in Azkaban, which had never been fuller, or with a kiss from a dementor. As most of the sentences to the prison were life sentences, it was debatable which punishment was worse. The Malfoys seemed to have gained some sort of credit for their family when Narcissa helped Harry in the Battle of Hogwarts. Draco's actions towards Harry were also raised during their trial, and the overall defection of the family towards the plight of Voldemort somehow allowed them only the punishment of massive fines and three months house confinement.  
Also, the fact that the ministry was, until not long ago, so heavily dependent on the funding of the family probably weighed in on their sentence.

The letter from the owl, which was currently haughtily appraising Harry with its somehow judgemental eyes, was thick and seemed inherently pompous. Leaving the owl on the perch, Harry went inside to open the letter.

Inside was an invitation to a ball at the Malfoy Manor. Along with the house arrest, they had been banned any visitors for pleasure. The ball was surely an attempt to slide back into the social game following the end of the family's house arrest.

 _Dear Mr. Potter,_

 _blah blah blah blah_ _ **ball**_ _blah blah_ _ **on the evening of the 7th of September**_ _blah blah_ _ **arrive by floo**_ _blah blah_

 _Humbly awaiting your response by owl,_

 _Lord Malfoy_

Well if that wasn't the most unnecessarily frivolous invitation he'd ever seen. It was so formal that it was almost off putting. Harry had never been to Malfoy Manor for pleasure before. The last time he had been there was decidedly unpleasant, now that he thought about it. The Malfoys' were also quite unpleasant from Harry's experiences. Right pompous bunch they were. It was amazing that they'd invited _him_ to their house for a ball. S'pose it'd be a bit of an insult not to invite the saviour of the wizarding world though, wouldn't it. S'pose it'd be a bit of an insult if he didn't show up. Could you image the look on Draco Malfoy's face if Harry Potter didn't show up to their ball. Considering how crucial this reintegration into social circles was for the Malfoys', they were probably banking on someone as significant and _light_ as Harry to show up. They'd probably hired photographers just to document for the world his attendance, as if to prove that they weren't completely lost to the darkness. This meant, for Harry, that they needed him to go. However, Harry didn't like the family, or the manor, having had bad experiences with both. The family had done him good though, towards the end. Did that make up for the years of snubbing and attempted murder though? Maybe?

The Malfoys' owl sitting outside his door screeched impatiently, reminding Harry that it was waiting for an answer.

 _Hm. What to do,_ Harry thought, trying to come to a quick decision. That was probably the reason that the Malfoys' had sent such an impatient owl to Harry specifically. To make him choose.

Grabbing a piece of parchment (because the Malfoy family was snooty like that), Harry quickly penned out his response.

- _Dear Lord Malfoy,_

 _I, Harry Potter, would be delighted to attend the ball at your family manor._

 _Will see you there,_

 _Harry Potter._

/~~/

These chapters are just getting shorter and shorter huh.

DISCLAImer- JK Rowling came up with HP universe, not me.

:)


	3. Chapter 3

A.N/ I wrote this chapter with a little bit of a different style to the previous ones. Its got more of an insight into the characters and a little more detail into their thoughts and stuff. It's also longer. Hopefully its okay :D

Disclaimer- not mine (this story is, but not the characters and stuff)

* * *

The date for the Malfoy's ball had quickly caught up to Harry, and soon enough, the day arrived.

Much to Ginny's irritation, Harry decided to take Luna with him as his date to the ball. This, he had argued, was because it was simply not a good idea to place a Weasley and a Malfoy in the same vicinity as each other. Also, Ginny was a little tiring when she was around him for more than a couple hours. Harry didn't say that though. While she was tiring and noisy and always pointing out his flaws as a romantic partner, Harry didn't want to break off their relationship at the moment. He could probably psychoanalysis the crap out of it if he wanted to, but he didn't want to.

Luna and he had gotten matching magenta outfits. It really was a shocking magenta. Luna's choice, of course. She said it reminded her of her childhood vacations to the beach. How, Harry had no idea, but he did agree with her that the colour complimented her hair nicely. Luna's dress was quite simple in design, leaving most of the appeal to the outrageous colour. Harry's dress robes were, while magenta, slightly more reserved. An almost black outer robe covered his inner robes, which were a much brighter tone. When the couple stood together kitted out in their set, they really were quite visually offensive. Oh well.

The pair had agreed that Luna would floo to Harry's place so they could arrive together. At 5:42, the fireplace in Harry's living room roared to life, and Luna stepped out, brushing any crinkles from her dress out, and flattening her hair so that it looked like her curls were deliberate. Her goal for the evening was to pass for someone who gave a shit about social conventions, while observing the behaviours of nargles when in larger numbers. She had a hypothesis, she'd told Harry, that nargles were in fact highly social creatures, and their distracting effect on people was in fact diminished if not neutralised when they were around lots of their own kind. This was purely speculation though, as Luna had no solid evidence to back this up.

"I'm ready to observe some nargles," stated Luna upon her arrival to Harry's home. Her eyes glistened at Harry, revealing her excitement at the opportunity the evening presented to her. Harry grinned at the small smile set upon his friend's face. It was her _I'm-excited-to-investigate-creatures-only-I-can-see_ face. A very common face for Luna to have.

"Yes, we can probably go right about now. May as well get this night done as quickly as possible," Harry affirmed, pursing his lips at his friend, who he'd just realised was wearing the converse shoes they'd previously deemed inappropriate for a ball.

 _It's as if social conventions don't exist in her world, and we didn't have a half an hour long conversation about what constitutes as appropriate footwear! Hopefully her dress will be long enough to prevent most judgmental looks…_

Grabbing the pot of floo powder, Harry handed it to Luna, who went through first with a cry of "Malfoy Manor!"

Following the flash of his fireplace, Harry grabbed his own handful of powder, setting the clay pot back in its place before stepping into the hearth himself.

"Malfoy Manor!"

Emerging through the large fireplace in the foyer of the manor, soft orchestral music floated through the house, followed by sounds of reserved laughter and polite conversation. Harry turned to see Luna standing to the side of the fireplace and inspecting the soles of her shoes for soot.

 _The Malfoys' wouldn't allow for their house to be as dirty to have soot in their fireplaces, especially when they are expecting company. It would be 'un-Malfoy' to have something as common as dirt in their home,_ Harry thought a little derisively. Looking around, even the foyer seemed like mounds and piles of money had been thrown at it. No knut had been wasted here. Snootiness was a constant. Obviously.

Speaking of, a small house elf wearing what looked to be a steam pressed uniform, appeared in front of the pair with a soft popping noise.

"Good evenings Mr and Missus guests to the Malfoy Manor!" The small thing squeaked, bowing slightly as it addressed them. "My name be Slipy and I's showing you to the main dancing room! Please follow!"

With that, Slipy turned and began walking with better posture than Harry had even seen on a house elf before in the direction of the music and laughter.

 _Gee, even the house elves have been changed then. Dobby certainly was a different sort to Slipy._ Remembering his little friend, Harry saddened slightly. There had been many losses in the war. His mood was slightly softened though, as he realised that the quality of life of a Malfoy house elf had obviously improved. Slipy seemed completely sane, which is not something he could have said about Dobby.

Luna seemed to be simply observing everything around her with wide eyes. Her child like curiosity to everything was amazing. Turning to follow after the house elf, Harry realised they had arrived at their location. The doors were wide open, greeting him to the sight of what was surely the entire season's formal wear in a single room. Witches and wizards alike were dressed in frills and silks, each attendee displaying their wealth in their outfit. Clearly, some of the most well off families in Britain were present here. Oddly enough though, there were a couple dresses and dress robes in more vibrant colours than was previously adorned. Perhaps with the defeat of the Dark Lord, people felt more at ease to wear brighter colours.

This was good, as it meant Luna and his own clothes stood out a little less as inappropriate.

Feeling his body give in to the sway of the pleasant music being played, Harry turned to look at Luna, who was taking in the sights before her.

"Isn't this crazy?" Harry said, raising his voice slightly over the noise of the room. He was feeling slightly overwhelmed by the sheer saturation of the situation. Luna hummed in agreement.

"Yes, the number of nargles in the room is insane. I've never seen so many in one place!"

What Harry considered one of Luna's best qualities was her ability to be spirited in any situation, regardless of how crappy the reality of it was. It allowed her to turn potentially uncomfortable situations into much lighter ones. Currently, Harry was really appreciating this side of her. Of course, it wasn't something she did on purpose, but it was comforting nonetheless. Despite the hardships faced by both of them at this location, Luna remained focused on her invisible creatures.

A comforted smile crossed Harry's face as he revelled in the pleasures of Luna's companionship. Presenting his arm for her to take, he led her into the throes of people dancing to the music.

* * *

It had not crossed Harry's mind prior to this moment, but neither Luna nor himself were very good at dancing. A couple hours after arriving to the party, standing with his dance partner towards the edges of the room, Harry was gasping as subtly as possible, trying to catch his breath. Luna was in great condition, bouncing on the balls of her feet and positively beaming with energy.

"Harry! Let's dance some more, I wanna see all the pretty dresses up close again!" Was there no limit to her enthusiasm? The same spiritedness that he was earlier praising was now coming back to bite him in the butt.

"Can we… just take a breather… for a sec, Luna?" Harry wheezed, trying to pull himself upright and look somewhat composed. The style of dancing they had been doing was very physically exhausting. It was something of a whole body shimmy while flailing one's arms in every direction at once. Completely offensive to anyone who took this kind of event seriously, but very fun to do.

"Ah, Mr Potter, how pleasant to see you this evening," drawled a voice to Harry's side. Lucius Malfoy's perfectly coordinated everything came into view, blocking the view of the dance floor from Harry's view. "And I see you've brought Ms Lovegood with you too, how wonderful."

"Good evening Lord Malfoy. We both would like to thank you for inviting us to this wonderful evening of yours. We're having so much fun," Harry replied, trying not to grin at how Malfoy's eyes tightened in response to his statement.

"So much fun!" Luna added from Harry's side. Malfoy's smile became rather fixed.

"Yes, I can see that indeed. Hopefully everything is to your liking. There are some platters and beverages going around should you like something to eat or drink. I can assure you all are perfectly delicious."

 _What a pretentious prat. Beverages. Means exactly the same thing as drink you pompous peacock._

"Oh lovely, I'll make sure to keep an eye out for those ones," responded Harry as politely as he could be bothered.

To his credit, Lucius remained composed the whole time. Harry, who was still trying to even his breathing out to a normal level, was struggling to remain poker faced. Luna had started giggling at some point, but it wasn't directed at the conversation, so Harry had no idea what that was about.

Smoothly moving on, Lucius began to change topic. "Mr Potter, there have been a number of esteemed guests present tonight who have expressed interest in making your acquaintance. In fact, not minutes ago, the French minister for international relations was raving to me about your skills and services to the wizarding communities of the world." Grabbing two flutes of champagne from a passing platter, Lucius graciously passed one to Harry while sipping from the second himself. Luna was still giggling in the other direction. "Would you be at all interested in meeting with some of the other guests? I could introduce you, of course, as the host of the evening. It would be an excellent opportunity to meet some very prominent international figures as well. Perhaps mark the beginning of Harry Potter's ascent into the greater social realm even."

At this point, Lucius was as close to begging as a Malfoy would ever get, however subtly he did it. For some reason, he seemed quite intent on showing Harry off to his other guests.

 _They really must need the social boost of my reputation if Lucius Malfoy is trying to show me off as such._

Stepping away from the support the wall provided, Harry agreed to Lucius' requests.

"But of course Lord Malfoy. I would be honoured to meet with the other guests of the evening."

Offering Luna, who had turned to the conversation again, his arm to take, Harry followed Lucius back into the crowd. The Lord led them first to a rather stout, but extremely well dressed man, who had the most well-trimmed moustache Harry had ever seen in his life.

"Mr Potter, this is the French Minister for international relations, Jaques Dumont. Mr Dumont, Harry Potter and his date for the evening, Luna Lovegood." Malfoy paused, allowing the man to kiss Luna's cheek and shake Harry's hand. "As I was telling you earlier Mr Potter, he was very generous with his praise for your skill and bravery in the defeat of the Dark Lord a few months ago. Mr Dumont was quite involved with the war due to his work, and did much work in the past weeks in improving British French relations, did you not?" Lucius pulled, expertly praising his guests so they would feel at ease.

"Ah, Monsieur Malfoy, you give zuch 'igh praise! But you see, _mon_ é _quipe et moi_ worked togezzer to improve relations! Not me alone!" Mr Dumont gave a good natured chuckle at this, his belly chuckling with him. "Ah, _mais c'est vrai!_ The whole nation of France gives thanks to you, Mr Potter! Your skill and power in defeating the Dark Lord is legendary, non? A man who callz 'imself 'flight of death' brought down by a mere 17 year old! _Incroyable!_ "

 _Huh, is that what Voldemort means… What a pretentious wanker! No wonder Malfoy fit in so well._

"Oh, Minister Dumont, I also had a team of people helping me along the way. There were so many people who gave their lives and energy helping each other and myself take Voldemort down." Ignoring Lucius' slight shiver at Voldemort's name, Harry deflected praise as best he could.  
"Tell me more though about the work you've been doing between Britain and France, if you please. I read in the papers that the economic reforms that Minister Bones implemented were based off of the French system. Is that true?" Questioning the minister, Harry continued the conversation while Luna began to observe the people around her.

* * *

The ball was in full swing by 9:00, and Harry was still making his way through all the other guests who wanted to meet with him. He'd spent a good long while chatting with the French minister, and then moved onto one of Lucius' old school friends who ran what was apparently a very successful wand business in Australia. Following that, Harry was introduced to a man who was acting Lord for one of the families on the Wizengamot. Apparently the man, who simply referred to himself as Lord Dean, was looking after the family's affairs until the heir of the title was old enough to take up the role. Lord Dean had been rather awkward when talking about the young heir, and Luna later informed Harry that there had been 3 suspicious deaths of previous heirs from that family, and that Lord Dean had been acting lord for almost 2 decades.

The socialising continued in this manner, and Harry for the first time in his life began to realise the scope of the world that he had become a part of. So many of the guests at the ball were high up in their respective societies, and the sheer number of lords and ladies present was mind-blowing. Through his education at Hogwarts, Harry's exposure to the people of the magical world had become extremely restricted. The only other experience where he had had some inkling of how vast the global wizarding community was, was at the world cup in his fourth year. But even then, it hadn't truly struck him. Something about the backwardness of wizards, in their use of quills and candles, gave him the impression that they were a small population. But having so many people of such high influence and power around him, Harry was struck by how insignificant his individual was.

Even as the Boy-Who-Lived and the Saviour of the Wizarding World, he was only one guy. The only thing that separated him from anyone else was the fact that some crazy seer had made a prophecy that just so happened to fit his description. The only thing he had done himself up to this point was mostly complete a Hogwarts education. In all his battles against Voldemort, he had so much help from those around him.  
He wasn't worthy of the glory that he was receiving, was he? No more so than anyone else in the ball room! In fact, by Harry's standards, some of the stories and achievements he had heard from his socialising were much more impressive and worth praising than what he had done.

But perhaps he was underestimating himself. As Hermione so often told him, he had a habit of not taking responsibility for his own achievements. That could possibly be what he was doing currently.

But what if it wasn't? What if h-

"Harry, having a crisis in the middle of Malfoy's ball is quite unsociable you know," Luna's melodious voice interrupted his thoughts. "There are much more enjoyable things to do at parties, like dancing!"

Grumbling a little to himself, Harry replied, "I wasn't having a crisis, I was just considering the practicality of quills in comparison to muggle pens."

"Oh right, I do that all the time. My father and I often debate this topic actually. We both agree that muggle stationary is far more practical and efficient than what wizards tend to use."

"How does the debate work then?" Harry questioned, confused once again by Luna's logic.

"Its very simple you see, he will argue that, say, a pencil is a better writing tool for rough sketches and children than a quill. I will then follow up by saying, why yes, pencils are better than quills, because they are easier to get rid of mistakes from. Daddy will then say, Why yes Luna, that was an excellent point you made there. But you see, pencils are indeed superior because of how accessible they are compared to quills. It goes on like that you see," Luna concluded, her expression showing that she truly felt like she'd explained it satisfactorily.

"But aren't you just arguing the same point over and over?"

Chuckling at Harry's ignorance, Luna smiled. "Of course, that's what makes it such a good debate!"

"Uh... yeah, alright I suppose."

 _Better just let it slide. I'm sure it follows Luna's logic._

"But really, Harry, try and have your crisis in a more appropriate place. It would be an inefficient use of time for you. You're missing out on all the nargle activity!"

Remembering Luna's reason for attending the ball at all, Harry glanced around at the heads of all the dancing guests. From his perspective at least, there was a distinct lack of any nargle looking creatures.

"Yeah, they sure seem to be here in numbers, don't they Luna," Harry suggested, watching Luna's reaction from the corner of his eye.

"Oh yes yes yes! I've never seen such behaviour before! The way that they are acting so reservedly heavily supports my hypothesis, Daddy will be so excited to hear!"

Well, if Luna was happy, then something must be going well.

He turned back to watch the rotating dancers in the centre of the ballroom. His eyes flitting from couple to couple, Harry watched and observed the elegance and beauty of such an evening. The couples danced as if they had known the steps their whole lives, which some of them probably had. There was no hesitance or missteps from anyone, it was all practiced perfection.

Scanning the room further, Harry turned his gaze to those who weren't dancing. As if drawn by a charm, he saw two eyes staring directly at him from the other side of the room. The two eyes caught and held his gaze, trapping him in their embrace. Blue so dark it was almost black, as deep and consuming as the deepest pit of the darkest ocean. The longer their eyes met, the more Harry felt like he was drowning, never to see the surface again. Like all the air from his lungs was being sucked out by the endless water. The pressure and the black surrounding him and pulling him further and further, until he couldn't... grasp...his breath...

"Harry!"

Breaking the eye contact, Harry's burst of air came in the form of Luna grabbing his hand and pulling him to the dance floor.

"This is my favourite song! Daddy and I always dance to it together!" The squeak of her converse sneakers on the polished floor drew his attention back to himself, and the fact that Luna had taken him to the middle of the dancing.

As the song started up, a heavy bass drum kick pounded on every note, striking something inside him. The flautist, who at some point had changed to a guitar, came in with chords that created the backdrop for something more. As the rest of the band came in with the melody, Harry's mind was consumed by a fire and a need to dance.

Grabbing Luna's hand he threw himself into the fiercest dancing he'd ever danced, taking Luna as his willing partner. It was as if the music had taken a hold of his mind and had erased any previous thoughts from his head, including those featuring a pair of eyes from across the room. Later on, Harry would look back on this with a tinge of embarrassment, as it wasn't particularly skillful or graceful. In the moment though, he was a man consumed.

* * *

When the song finally ended, Harry was completely covered in sweat and whatever fierce need to dance that had been within was sated.

"That was insane, what did you say the name of that song was?" He asked Luna, coming to his senses a little and realising how out of place such dancing was at such a distinguished ball.

"The Dance of the Centaurs! It's such a magical song, apparently the wizard who wrote it incorporated some sort of magic in it to make it _consuming_ or something like that!"

 _You don't say..._

The clearing of a through brought his attention to someone standing to his side.

"Ah, Malfoy! Oh-, uh, Draco, I mean. Are you well?" No one ever said Harry was a smooth conversationalist, for obvious reasons.

Draco's calculating and slightly judgemental gaze wandered over Harry and Luna's visually offensive outfits and the sweat that covered their faces. It wasn't a particularly friendly gaze.

"I am well, Potter. I doubt you two could say the same," Draco drawled in his best imitation of Lord Malfoy. The signature sneer made its way to his face. "I suppose I must call you Harry now."

 _Gee, you thought we'd have moved a little past the hostilities. Perhaps bonded a little through almost dying together or something. Perhaps its_ not-Malfoy-ish. _Well two can play that g-_

"I'd like to thank both you and... Luna, for attending the ball this evening. Your presence tonight has no doubt been.. a highlight for many, as you are no doubt aware." Flickers of what Harry almost interpreted as _awkwardness_ flitted across Draco's face while saying this.

 _What was that...? Awkwardness on a Malfoy? In public? Never!_

"Oh, we've had so much fun chatting with all the creatures and witchey-woos! They've all got such wonderful heads! Draco, there really are some wonderful creatures in this room tonight! Your family has done well," Luna chimed in, almost visibly confusing Draco, who seemed to realise she wasn't quite taking about the guests.

"... Thank you Luna. The Malfoy family takes great pride in our events and parties." The Malfoy composure didn't waver in the face of Luna Lovegood and her strange utterances. "You two certainly made a statement just now as well. I had not realised, Harry, that you had such passion for dance." The last sentence was said as more of a question then a statement.

"Oh no no, I really have no passion for it. None. Zilch. It more of a spurr of the moment thing you see, heh.."

 _Surely he doesn't actually think I have some undeclared love for dance. He saw me at the Yule ball... eugh... that mess of a night serves as a much better representative of my feelings towards dancing._

 _"_ Oh, I see. A misunderstanding then. Perhaps, through our less-than-friendly relationship through our Hogwarts years, there have been many more misunderstandings that may be clarified. I feel that the hostilities between our houses created undue tension between the two of us, Harry. Now that we have left such incompatible environments, I see opportunity for relationships to be rewritten." Draco said this as if it had been rehearsed many times prior to this moment. Clearly, the Malfoy family was very aware of how crucial the mending of relationships between Harry and themselves was. A year ago, this would have been laughable, but given the actions of the family towards the end of the war and how vital they proved to be towards the cause of the light, Harry was willing to view them in a more favourable light.

Drawing his head up to address Draco fully, and as a respectful wizard should, Harry replied, "I completely agree. The circumstances current certainly seem to favour the development of a new relationship between ourselves, and our families."

 _Wow Harry, that was pretty good. You almost sounded as if you knew what you were saying, and not just making it up._

The very corner of Draco's mouth tilted up slightly, revealing the relief that was coursing through his body. Harry's agreement made the Malfoy family's integration into society again much more promising.

"I am glad to hear it, Harry. I hope that, given time and good intentions, we are able to respect each other as friends and allies. And that our respective families are able to work together to the benefit of each other."

"That is my wish too, Draco."

"Here here!" Luna cheered, applauding the small ceremony that had just occurred.

Putting on the mask of a host once again, Draco turned to address Harry and Luna as a couple. "I hope that the rest of this evening with be pleasurable for the two of you. I must leave to speak with my father. Please, enjoy yourselves and the entertainment." With that, Draco inclined his head slightly, and turned to take his leave.

"Thank you Draco," Harry said softly, almost under his breath. Draco faltered for a moment, then moved to blend with the crowd in search of his father.

There was a slightly stunned pause after his departure. Harry was processing what this meant for the two of them and the houses of Potter and Malfoy. Luna seemed to be waiting until Harry was finished with his thoughts, and was ready to speak.

"I think... that I will look forward to being allies with Draco's family." Harry wasn't sure if he was so ready to suddenly become friends with Draco after years of malice between them, but he was glad that Draco seemed prepared to wait. As their new relationship stood, allies seemed the best thing to aim for.

"Then this was a good outcome?" asked Luna, trying to gauge her friend's thoughts on this development. As much as her head was in the clouds, she did care for Harry.

"Yes, I think it is time for us to try and act civilly."

 _Try being the key word there._

Luna watched his face for a moment, seemingly searching for something. Suddenly, her face lit up, as if she was satisfied with what she found.

"Well that's fantastic then!' She grabbed his hand once more, as a new song began to float over and through the crowds. "Harry, let's dance once more! The nargles seem to be most concentrated in the middle of the room!"

And so Harry spent the rest of the night trying not to step on Luna's sneakers, while she stared in awe at the couples dancing around them. All in all, not too bad of a night.

* * *

THIS ONE WAS SO MUCH LONGER! Not really. Not too much longer, hopefully. Are the longer chapters preferable to the shorter ones? Could you tell I have no idea what I'm doing? Maybe? Thats okay. I'll keep writing anyways. :) (Also, could you notice the change in style of writing? If so, which one was better?) ty!


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